Aston Villa hope midfielder Jordan Lyden will be fit again just after the club return for pre-season training.

Lyden, one of Villa’s most highly-rated young players, sustained what was initially thought to be a knee injury during the defeat to Arsenal on the final day of the Premier League season.

It was feared the 20-year-old Australian might be set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines but tests have shown the injury to be a thigh issue and the damage is not as bad as initially feared.

Lyden, Villa’s Under-21 captain, will now receive treatment throughout the summer at the club’s Bodymoor Heath training ground, with the rest of the players set to return for training at the beginning of July as Villa prepare for life in the Championship following relegation.

Lyden was making only his second Premier League start against Arsenal on Sunday with his appearance at the Emirates Stadium, where he played as an emergency right-back, his sixth of the 2015/16 campaign.

Any sort of lengthy absence would have been a blow for the midfielder after he spent much of last season out with a hamstring injury before finally breaking into the first team this year.